Order of the Seijin
:"Reason dwells on the cutting edge of their blade. Death is always with them. They are not afraid." - Seireitou-shishō The Order of the Seijin (聖人の体制, Seijin no Taisei; otherwise known as the Seijin Order) is an organization that works independently of the Gotei 13, taking up headquarters in the Soul Society. The Seijin Council sits at the head of the chain of command for the entire Order. All members of the organization work with the classification of Seijin (セージ, sage). During Mūkade's rampage, the Seijin Palace was destroyed in the aftermath and several members were killed. The remaining members, in a meeting with Captain-Commander Shunsui Kyōraku, agree to assilimate their remaining Seijin into the Gotei 13's ranks, replacing several seated positions, even Captain ranks. Overview Unlike the war-like Gotei 13, the Seijin Order are a peacekeeping group of Shinigami aimed at protecting Soul Society, the Spirit King, and the Human world, unlike it's parent organization which simply focused on protection of the Spirit King. The Order is led by the Seijin Council which decides all the moves that the order makes. They are famous for their use of Seijō Reiryoku. It is not under the authority of the Spirit King, the Central 46, the Gotei 13, or the Royal Guard. The symbol of the Order of the Seijin is the kanji for "sage". Ideology The Seijin emphasize Meditation, reflection of one's self, and of course, to see through deception. In short, to teach paradoxes to see into oneself. They persist the idea that Reiryoku is tainted and impure by war, afflicting those of spiritual residue. Impurity stains one's ability to be in contact with reiryoku and, in turn, weakens one's connection. Reiryoku is inherently evil, because of the widespread conflict in the spiritual and human worlds. Balance comes from the purification of reiryoku. To find harmony in the reiryoku, war and peace must be balanced. These ideals stem from the thought that reiryoku is akin to that of water, always flowing. If you use a great power, you must expect a repercussion in the future, because as earlier stated, reiryoku is in constant flow like water. General Operation In stark contrast to the Gotei 13, which leaves the division operations up to the individual Captains, the Seijin Order operates totally as one unit. Their primary job is to keep the peace between all of the worlds, including Hueco Mundo which usually means resolving threats before they get out of hand. Renge Yamato, a Master in the Order, commented that if the Order had existed during the early days of Aizen's plotting, he would've been defeated long before he could've created such a mess. Occasionally, graduates from the Order will join the Gotei 13, though most prefer to stay within the Order and it's many jobs. They often are called upon to solve disputes between the Gotei's divisions, as in the Gotei 13, unless specifically ordered by the Captain-Commander, captains can choose whether or not to attend meetings (at their own risk) or not even involve themselves in the daily situations of the Soul Society. Captains are not allowed, without permission, to carry out activities outside of their normal jurisdiction or their division. The captain of one division cannot punish the subordinates of another captain. So disputes between the divisions come up regularly. It is the job of the Order members to solve the dispute peacefully if possible and with force if necessary. The Order is much smaller than it's Gotei 13 counterpart. At any given time, it has about a maximum of 2,000 members. This is because Shinigami cannot "join" the Order per say. Rather, they are found at a young age and trained in the order. Young trainees do not go to the Shinō Academy, but rather are trained by the masters of the Order themselves. With the war approaching, following Kamui's arrest, the Seijin Order had lessened the strict requirements of joining, and shoring up the numbers to about 5,000 members. Unlike that of the Council's organization, the military strength of the Order is made up of all Seijin within the Order, both regular members and Councilmen. In order to practice a more democratic system, the Council allows it so only Seijin who are older than that of eighteen may take part in military activities, meaning the sheer numbers of the militia itself can vary. Despite this loose means of organization, Nanako Ōmura is the head of these Unified forces. Organization Leadership Upon the founding of the Order, it created a central political entity called the Seijin Council. The council was made up of of Masters that acted as a primary governing body for the organization. At anytime, there could be up to eight members of the Seijin Council consisting of three lifetime members and five members who sat on the council as long as they wanted and then stepped down when they felt the need. Branching off from this central Council, are four lesser divisions that answer directly to the former. Seireitou noted that the Seijin Order follows the hierarchy diagram of a large fully-grown bonsai tree. The Order's majority consists of the "trunk", while the Seijin Council is the uppermost lynchpin that ties the "branches" of multiple sub-divisions, each supervised by a seated Council member. Branch Divisions In regards to Seireitou's bonsai tree metaphor, there are divisions that branch off from the Council, each led directly by a Council member. Seijin, after graduating from their Initiate status, are primarily sorted into one of these divisions pending either their Master's acceptance and the division that Master belongs to, or where their abilities appear to supplement the most toward. Unlike the Gotei 13's divisions, in which some have duties and others are generic divisions that serve only to split Shinigami up, each division of the Order has specific duties, and each are led by one of the Council's nine Grandmasters. These divisions are: * Seijin Military Forces - leader unknown. * Seijin Medical Division - led by Grandmaster Retsu Unohana. * Seijin Research and Intelligence Institute - leader unknown. * Seijin Internal Affairs - led by Grandmaster Naoya Hōsōkaya. * Seijin Material World Defense Force - leader unknown. * Seijō Reiryoku Association - leader unknown. Notable Members Seijin within the organization are given a rank that differentiates them from other members, usually dependent on their skill level, experience, and knowledge of the Seijin arts. The ranks, from lowermost to uppermost, are: Initiate Initiates (新入り, Shiniri) are those who have shown extraordinary levels of dormant spiritual energy, and are selected at a very young age, usually an infant, to join the Seijin Order. In order to affirm Initaite status, an elected Shinigami was required to be chosen by a Master or went before a board of Seijin who would accept/decline the candidate. If a child was not chosen to be a Apprentice by the completion of their lessons in the Initiate academy, they would be placed into another, lesser role in the Seireitei's Gotei 13 as they would go about the normal duties of most Shinigami. There is a window of time in which an Initiate is placed as a general member of the Seijin Order before the need to either apply for Apprenticeship or to be reassigned to the Gotei 13. Apprentice Apprentices (弟子, Deshi) are still learners at this point, but have been officially accepted by a Master as that Master's learner. The Initiate who proved to possess special or unique powers, beyond those of his peers, would usually be selected by a Seijin Master to become their sole pupil. The Apprentice would then begin advanced training under said Master, until such time that the former would deem the Apprentice worthy of becoming a Master, or would be placed in a position in the Gotei 13; the latter of the two indicates that the Master would decide that the Appentice would not have the makings of a Master, and have failed to reach said expectations. Another drastic difference between an Apprentice and an Initiate is that an Apprentice has manifested their Zanpakutō, thought they do not yet know it's Shikai or Bankai. To be qualified for Master candidacy, the Apprentice would have had to: # Complete their Master's training regiment, which could take up to twenty or so years. # Achieved the Bankai of their Zanpakutō. # Underwent successful field training (ie. being assigned to assignments outside of the Soul Society, and having completed a number of these missions) Master Masters (師匠, Shishō) are the Order's equivalent to the Gotei 13's captain rank. It is the second highest rank in the Order and is the rank generally required to achieve a seat in the Council, if one is vacant. Unlike in the Gotei, where particular skill was needed to achieve the high rank of Captain (such as obtaining Bankai, defeating another Captain, etc), one gained the rank of Master by showing their devotion to peace and justice throughout the worlds as well as complete harmony with their zanpakutō. Though it is not required that a Shinigami know Bankai before gaining this rank, most Masters know their Bankai. During times of war, Masters sometimes gained a secondary rank to go with thier positions in the war. While this is the general case, there are other ways to attain master-status. If a Shinigami among the ranks of the Order becomes tremendously powerful and is shown to be wise beyond their years, the Council will grant special permissions that promote said Shinigami to Master status. Seijin Masters have a seal placed on their powers, referred to as a limiter, which can contain up to 80% of their power, although it can also be removed in the event of an emergency. This restricts their spiritual power to a level at which they will not accidentally influence others. It is placed on a certain body spot of their unique choosing, but its appearance remains the same with all Seijin Masters. *'General' is a strange title held only by a special group of Master-level Seijin. It is unknown what it entails, or the requirements of how one goes about obtaining it, but it is rumored that Grandmasters are selected from the pool of Generals. It is also said that it is a stand-alone rank, held by Masters and Grandmasters interchangeably. Grandmaster Grandmaster (大師範, Daishishō) is awarded to only the strongest and wisest members of the Seijin Order, making themselves distinguished among other Masters. It is said that the prerequisites for becoming a Grandmaster are to completely master their Bankai, and to accomplish a certainly difficult and currently unknown task. Those that hold the title of Grandmaster are reknowned as the strongest and wisest among all the Seijin, and considered on a level of their own completely. The title was originally a stand-alone status, at the time of its founding, but Seireitou decided that the Order could not be most effectively run by one single person, like that of the Gotei 13. Hence, he deemed it a title that only those within the top tier of the Order would obtain, leading to the founding of the Order's leadership, the Seijin Council. Uniforms Up until a Seijin becomes a master, they wear the standard Shinigami uniform, called Shihakushō (死覇装, Garment of Dead Souls) - a white shitagi, a black kosode, a black hakama, a white hakama-himo, white tabi, and waraji. Masters generally wear brown robes or a haori with this standard Shinigami uniform on underneath it. Behind the Scenes The Seijin Order is heavily based on the Jedi Order of Star Wars fame, however, everything on this page and the info about the Order was hand written, not copied, and only ideas from the Jedi were used; as the Order still remains heavily in the Bleach universe; sticking to concepts of Shinigami, not a new race altogether. Category:Seijin Category:Organizations Category:Ten Tailed Fox Category:Seireitou